This invention relates to a fiber bale opener including two rapidly rotating opening rollers provided with fiber tuft removing elements, such as sawteeth and situated above a row of free-standing fiber bales. The opening rollers are mounted in a back-and-forth travelling arrangement and during such travel and rotation of the opening rollers, the teeth thereof project through a hold-down device such as a grate, into the upper surface of the bales and remove fiber tufts therefrom which are subsequently drawn away by a vacuum system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,107 discloses a bale opener which travels up and down along a side of the bales. The opening device has two opening rollers whose teeth project through bars of a grate and remove tufts from the bale sides. The direction of rotation of the opening rollers in the zone of the bale surface (that is, the working zone of the opening rollers) is oriented inwardly, that is, in that zone the opening rollers rotate towards one another. As a result, the material removed by the opening rollers presents a mutual obstruction to the flow of material in the intermediate space between the rollers during the tuft intake and discharge. It is a further disadvantage of the prior art device referred to above that the tufts are, in part, wedged between the teeth and thus remain on the roller and repeatedly revolve therewith.